Advogato blog for stefanhttp://www.advogato.org/person/stefan/
Advogato blog for stefanen-usmod_virguleSat, 10 Dec 2016 03:06:45 GMTMon, 26 Jan 2015 03:08:23 GMTKM 21http://www.advogato.org/person/stefan/diary.html?start=39
http://stefan.seefeld.name/2015/01/25/km-21/<p>
<a href="https://stefanseefeld.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/km21.png" >
<img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-300" src="https://stefanseefeld.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/km21.png?w=300&amp;h=225" alt="km21" width="300" height="225"/></a>
</p>
<p>Ein Rabe saß auf einem Meilenstein<br/>
und rief Ka-em-zwei-ein, Ka-em-zwei-ein…<br/><br/>
Der Werhund lief vorbei, im Maul ein Bein,<br/>
Der Rabe rief Ka-em-zwei-ein, zwei-ein.<br/><br/>
Vorüber zottelte das Zapfenschwein,<br/>
der Rabe rief und rief Ka-em-zwei-ein.<br/><br/>
»Er ist besessen!« – kam man überein.<br/>
»Man führe ihn hinweg von diesem Stein!«<br/><br/>
Zwei Hasen brachten ihn zum Kräuterdachs.<br/>
Sein Hirn war ganz verstört und weich wie Wachs.<br/><br/>
Noch sterbend rief er (denn er starb dort) sein<br/>
Ka-em-zwei-ein, Ka-em-Ka-em-zwei-ein …</p>
<p style="margin-left:40%;">Christian Morgenstern (1871 – 1914)</p><br/><a href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gocomments/stefanseefeld.wordpress.com/299/" >
<img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/comments/stefanseefeld.wordpress.com/299/"/></a> <img alt="" border="0" src="http://pixel.wp.com/b.gif?host=stefan.seefeld.name&amp;blog=9506016&amp;post=299&amp;subd=stefanseefeld&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1"/>Sat, 21 Jun 2014 08:14:26 GMTSolstice d’étéhttp://www.advogato.org/person/stefan/diary.html?start=38
http://stefan.seefeld.name/2014/06/21/solstice-dete/<blockquote>
<p><em>“<span>Voilà. Nous avons franchi le solstice d’été. Et pendant que d’autres célèbrent le jour le plus interminable de l’année… nous allons secrètement nous réjouir du retour des longues nuits.</span></em>“</p>
</blockquote>
<p style="text-align:right;"> –<span>Méléagant</span></p>
<p>C’est un de mes moments préférés de Kaamelott. Quel suspense !</p>
<p>(<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyYmhe6c2NA" >https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyYmhe6c2NA</a>)</p><br/><a href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gocomments/stefanseefeld.wordpress.com/292/" >
<img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/comments/stefanseefeld.wordpress.com/292/"/></a> <img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=stefan.seefeld.name&amp;blog=9506016&amp;post=292&amp;subd=stefanseefeld&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1"/>Sat, 21 Jun 2014 05:13:26 GMTSolstice d’étéhttp://www.advogato.org/person/stefan/diary.html?start=37
http://stefan.seefeld.name/2014/06/20/solstice-dete/<blockquote>
<p><em>“<span>Voilà. Nous avons franchi le solstice d’été. Et pendant que d’autres célèbrent le jour le plus interminable de l’année… nous allons secrètement nous réjouir du retour des longues nuits.</span></em>“</p>
</blockquote>
<p style="text-align:right;"> –<span>Méléagant</span></p>
<p>C’est un de mes moments préférés de Kaamelott. Quel suspense !</p>
<p>(<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyYmhe6c2NA" >https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyYmhe6c2NA</a>)</p><br/><a href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gocomments/stefanseefeld.wordpress.com/292/" >
<img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/comments/stefanseefeld.wordpress.com/292/"/></a> <img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=stefan.seefeld.name&amp;blog=9506016&amp;post=292&amp;subd=stefanseefeld&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1"/>Sat, 15 Dec 2012 01:08:42 GMTOMG !http://www.advogato.org/person/stefan/diary.html?start=36
http://stefan.seefeld.name/2012/12/14/omg/<p>No, that’s not the acronym you are (likely) thinking of. That’s the <a href="http://omg.org" >Object Management Group</a>, which just held its quarterly Technical Meeting, in Burlingame (near San Francisco).</p>
<p>As a rather turbulent week draws to an end, I’m walking through a slightly rainy San Francisco to take in some more local air.</p>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/f8UDBqmOkQANcm9w00pZRw8yuTBUa-HfRRsRSAyp-9E?feat=embedwebsite" ><img alt="" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-JfnoeBRH05k/UMu_bdFzvYI/AAAAAAAABos/csCtmwsIep8/s288/IMG_20121214_141415.jpg" width="216" height="288"/></a></td>
</tr>
<tr><td>From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/115176876862562711276/SanFrancisco2012?authuser=0&amp;authkey=Gv1sRgCPL48szkuaGN1gE&amp;feat=embedwebsite" >San Francisco 2012</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table><p>At the meeting I broke a couple of records. One, notably, for having brought a (preexisting) set of specifications through the OMG standardization process to full adoption within only 9 months. (We started the initial RFC process at the March meeting in Reston.)</p>
<p>The second, for being the first to submit specifications using <a href="http://docbook.org" >DocBook</a>. While this has been a “supported” format (together with FrameMaker), I’m apparently the first one to actually using it in this context.</p>
<p>Most people still submit MS Word documents (yuck !), resulting in a lot of post-processing by OMG’s own editor to massage the text into OMG / ISO – compliant formats. As a result, the submitters are no longer able to maintain their own specifications, instead requiring OMG’s technical writer(s) / editor(s) to apply their patches for them. What a wasteful process.</p>
<p>By using DocBook, our community is now enabled / empowered to maintain the standard ourselves, which makes everyone involved, as well as (and in particular) those who no longer have to be involved, very happy.</p>
<p>On Wednesday I met with a couple of my colleagues, who happen to live in the area, to celebrate the completion of the above work, as well as to talk about the future.</p>
<p>I also took the opportunity to sneak in a few hours to visit the Muir Woods National Monument, which, by exposing me to an entirely different scale of space and time, relativates many of the other things running through my head.</p>
<table>
<tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/pGom3D8ODVuPpR_pyblSMw8yuTBUa-HfRRsRSAyp-9E?feat=embedwebsite" ><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-jiE40Gk7-i4/UMpfXa4-SDI/AAAAAAAABlw/2YyCQryFAf4/s288/IMG_20121213_105649.jpg" height="288" width="216"/></a></td>
</tr>
<tr><td>From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/115176876862562711276/SanFrancisco2012?authuser=0&amp;authkey=Gv1sRgCPL48szkuaGN1gE&amp;feat=embedwebsite" >San Francisco 2012</a></td>
</tr>
</table><p>Now I’m sitting in a *$ (read: Starbucks) as I have a few hours before my plane takes me back home.</p>
<br/><a href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gocomments/stefanseefeld.wordpress.com/267/" >
<img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/comments/stefanseefeld.wordpress.com/267/"/></a> <img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=stefan.seefeld.name&amp;blog=9506016&amp;post=267&amp;subd=stefanseefeld&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1"/>Fri, 18 May 2012 09:07:43 GMTLas Vegas Adventurehttp://www.advogato.org/person/stefan/diary.html?start=35
http://stefan.seefeld.name/2012/05/18/las-vegas-adventure/<p>After a rather inspiring (yet exhausting) week at <a href="www.gputechconf.com/" >GTC</a>, I’m on my way home from San Francisco to Montreal. I had chosen to fly via SFO instead of SJC, because the connection appeared to be slightly better. On my flight from YUL to SFO, the crew encountered a “minor” technical issue, and chose to land in Denver instead of San Francisco. While we were supposed to take off again within an hour, we sat on the tarmac for &gt;3 hours, when it was announced that the problem was bigger than originally thought, such that the plane could only take off the next day.</p>
<p>I managed to get a different flight to SJC, to arrive 12 hours late at my destination.</p>
<p>Now I’m on my way back, taking a two-leg flight from SFO via LAS to YUL. Arriving in LAS after 22:00, it’s apparently too late to have anyone in the terminal who can give useful information. When I finally figured out where to go to get the connection flight, and make it yet again through security, the plane is already taxiing towards the runway. So I’m stuck in this unfriendly, noisy, and inhumane place (which ironically claims to be the Mecca of the Western world) for the night, .and be home in Montreal 12 hours late.</p>
<p>This makes me miss a <a href="http://fimav.qc.ca/en/artistes/john-zorn-the-concealed-en/" >concert</a> I have been looking forward to see for months. How annoying…</p>
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<img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/reddit/stefanseefeld.wordpress.com/258/"/></a> <img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=stefan.seefeld.name&amp;blog=9506016&amp;post=258&amp;subd=stefanseefeld&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1"/>Thu, 29 Sep 2011 20:09:39 GMTLe Chant Du Rossignolhttp://www.advogato.org/person/stefan/diary.html?start=34
http://stefan.seefeld.name/2011/09/29/le-chant-du-rossignol/<p>I was recently talking with friends (with whom I’m rehearsing some renaissance music) about how birdsong has been represented / imitated musically throughout history. One of the most beautiful birdsong I have experienced myself is nightingales singing in crisp air, right after some good rainfall.</p>
<p>Youtube has some nice <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76GjTE3zpU0" >nightingale recording</a>, for all those who can’t experience this first-hand.</p>
<p>Among the many occurrences in musical compositions, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKx8IbcRiV8" >this excerpt</a> from “Le Chant Du Rossignol” by Igor Stravinsky strikes me as particularly resembling, though that may just be my own musical / aesthetic bias showing through. (Just listen carefully to the beginning of this excerpt and compare that to the very beginning of the nightingale recording above. Isn’t that amazing ?)</p>
<p>There are many others, such as Olivier Messiaen’s “Chants D’Oiseau”, or even his “Quatuor pour la fin du temps”. And of course, there are many older ones, too, such as Janequin’s “Le chant des oiseaux”, which appears a little affected in comparison.</p>
<p>It might be interesting to build a themed concert out of this and similar material.</p>
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<img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/digg/stefanseefeld.wordpress.com/240/"/></a> <a href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/goreddit/stefanseefeld.wordpress.com/240/" >
<img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/reddit/stefanseefeld.wordpress.com/240/"/></a> <img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=stefan.seefeld.name&amp;blog=9506016&amp;post=240&amp;subd=stefanseefeld&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1"/>Mon, 7 Feb 2011 05:19:21 GMTHow Fortunate the Man with Nonehttp://www.advogato.org/person/stefan/diary.html?start=33
http://stefan.seefeld.name/2011/02/07/how-fortunate-the-man-with-none/<p><em>You saw sagacious Solomon<br />
You know what came of him,<br />
To him complexities seemed plain.<br />
He cursed the hour that gave birth to him<br />
And saw that everything was vain.<br />
How great and wise was Solomon.<br />
The world however did not wait<br />
But soon observed what followed on.<br />
It&#8217;s wisdom that had brought him to this state.<br />
How fortunate the man with none.</em></p>
<p><em>You saw courageous Caesar next<br />
You know what he became.<br />
They deified him in his life<br />
Then had him murdered just the same.<br />
And as they raised the fatal knife<br />
How loud he cried: you too my son!<br />
The world however did not wait<br />
But soon observed what followed on.<br />
It&#8217;s courage that had brought him to that state.<br />
How fortunate the man with none.</em></p>
<p><em>You heard of honest Socrates<br />
The man who never lied:<br />
They weren&#8217;t so grateful as you&#8217;d think<br />
Instead the rulers fixed to have him tried<br />
And handed him the poisoned drink.<br />
How honest was the people&#8217;s noble son.<br />
The world however did not wait<br />
But soon observed what followed on.<br />
It&#8217;s honesty that brought him to that state.<br />
How fortunate the man with none.</em></p>
<p><em>Here you can see respectable folk<br />
Keeping to God&#8217;s own laws.<br />
So far he hasn&#8217;t taken heed.<br />
You who sit safe and warm indoors<br />
Help to relieve our bitter need.<br />
How virtuously we had begun.<br />
The world however did not wait<br />
But soon observed what followed on.<br />
It&#8217;s fear of god that brought us to that state.<br />
How fortunate the man with none.<br />
</em></p>
<p style="text-align:right;">&#8211; Bertold Brecht (from &#8220;Mother Courage&#8221;)</p>
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http://stefan.seefeld.name/2010/03/20/vernal-equinox/<p>Spring is here !</p>
<p>Google just published the list of this year&#8217;s GSoC <a href="http://socghop.appspot.com/gsoc/program/accepted_orgs/google/gsoc2010" target="_blank" >mentoring organizations</a>. <a href="http://socghop.appspot.com/gsoc/org/show/google/gsoc2010/docbook" target="_blank" >DocBook</a> will participate for a first time, as will (as usual) <a href="http://socghop.appspot.com/gsoc/org/show/google/gsoc2010/boost" target="_blank" >Boost</a>. If you are interested in any of this, don&#8217;t hesitate to get in touch !</p>
<p>I have also started looking into switching to <a href="http://clang.llvm.org/" target="_blank" >CLang</a> as Cpp/C/Cxx parsers for <a href="http://synopsis.fresco.org" target="_blank" >Synopsis</a>. While this looks very promising, there is still quite a lot of work that needs to be done before this will be usable. Any help is highly appreciated.</p>
Sun, 11 Oct 2009 15:13:40 GMTA matter of perspective.http://www.advogato.org/person/stefan/diary.html?start=31
http://stefan.seefeld.name/2009/10/11/a-matter-of-perspective/<p><em>&#8220;Barack Obama has given voice to what many of the world think about America - and it&#8217;s not flattering. That much of the world - composed as it is of autocrats and dictators and weak and wobbly defenders of human rights and human dignity - isn&#8217;t happy with the United States is not news.&#8221;</em></p>
<p>See, what &#8220;much of the world&#8221; isn&#8217;t happy with may not be &#8220;the United States&#8221;, but this dangerously stupid and arrogant world-view. Grow up, start to consider yourself part of the world, not above it, and things may get a little more balanced.</p>
Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:13:30 GMTGoogle Summer of Codehttp://www.advogato.org/person/stefan/diary.html?start=30
http://stefan.seefeld.name/2009/09/21/google-summer-of-code/<p>A too short and too rainy summer has almost passed by in a blink of an eye. I mentored two <a href="http://code.google.com/soc/" >GSoC</a> projects this year. One of them, adding <a href="http://python.org" >Python 3</a> support to <a href="http://www.boost.org/" >boost.python</a>, was very successful, and I just merged the <a href="https://svn.boost.org/trac/boost/changeset/56305" >changes</a> into trunk. As I don&#8217;t expect any surprises there, I&#8217;m sure the code will be ready for inclusion into the next release. Yay !</p>
<p>The other project wasn&#8217;t quite as successful. Not only did it require a lot more hand-holding from my part, but it didn&#8217;t result in nearly as much improvements as we had hoped for. </p>
<p>Neither result came as a surprise. In fact, I probably could have predicted it when reviewing the applications. But as I&#8217;m an optimist, I always hope for a better outcome, even if there are warning signs. As I will participate in this year&#8217;s GSoC Mentor Summit, I&#8217;m sure I will hear from other people what they have to suggest as to how to evaluate proposals to avoid surprises.</p>